Snapshots
by starkissed
Summary: Snapshots from Harry's sixth year, starting with his arrival at Grimmauld Place, and continuing through the year, showing his growing friendship with the youngest Weasley. H/G, implied R/Hr. Post-OOTP (spoilers)
1. Harry's Arrival

A/N:  Welcome to the first fic I've written after reading and re-reading OOTP!  Having read it, I've come to the conclusion that the only possible way forward is H/G R/Hr (which is lucky as I already thought that), and this is my attempt at writing Harry's sixth year.  I've deleted all my other fics, so anything posted by me now will be post-OOTP. Warning to anyone who hasn't yet read it (is there anyone?), this contains one major spoiler and a couple of little ones. I hope you enjoy it, and I'm not JK!

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**Chapter One: Harry's Return:**

"Ron, he hasn't talked about it for the whole of the time he's been at Privet Drive!" Hermione's voice was shrill and outraged, "It's not _healthy _for him to be bottling things up inside like that!"

"Hermione, Harry won't want to talk about it!" Ron's voice was also raised in the heat of the argument.

"Of course he will, we're his best friends," Hermione was more indignant now, "if he keeps everything inside for any longer, it won't do him any good."

"Well thank you, Dr Granger," Ron's voice was laden with sarcasm, "but you know that Harry doesn't like to talk about things like that, and we have to respect that.  It's bad enough that he has to come back to Grimmauld Place!"

Downstairs, directly underneath the spot where Ron and Hermione were currently engaged in a _discussion, _Ginny Weasley found that even placing both hands over her ears failed to drown them out.  Ever since Hermione's arrival at Grimmauld Place a week ago, the pair had had more and more fights over Harry's wellbeing.  Namely, Harry sent the required amount of letters to members of the Order, and even wrote to Ron and Hermione, but his letters were short and _numb_.  Hermione insisted that they had to try and get Harry to talk about his feelings, but Ron thought Harry would talk when, and only when, he was ready.  Neither wanted to back down, and Harry was due to arrive the next day.

"Another lovers tiff?" 

Ginny jumped as a loud CRACK signalled the arrival of Fred, holding one end of a pair of Extendable Ears.

CRACK

George appeared seconds later, shaking his head morosely.  "We were going to use these, but there's no need.  It really does ruin the blackmail material if everyone knows it already."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Now, sister dear, we have a proposition for you."  Fred draped an arm around Ginny's shoulder and beamed at her in an innocent manner.

"And what would that be?" Ginny asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Well, we couldn't help overhearing Ron and Hermione's little, ahem, 'discussion' upstairs and it really set me and George thinking." Fred's face was now painted into an expression of concentration, and George took over the narrative.

"Yes, that's right, it did.  As our benefactor, young Harry holds a special place in our hearts," George paused and clutched a hand to his heart, "and we wondered what would cheer him up the most.  Lots of thoughts came to us.....turning Malfoy into a house elf and using him as a personal slave."

"Allowing him to test our exclusive new range of stock."  Fred added.

"Dyeing Snape's hair blonde." George snorted with laughter, and a wistful expression came over his face. "Making a virtual girl follow him around everywhere, only wearing a bikini." 

"However, we have neither the means or skill to carry out any of these, so we had to start all over again," Fred had now taken over, "and that got us to wondering what Harry likes the most.  Then it struck us…Quidditch.  Harry was banned last year, so will be out of practice.  And, as luck would have it, I have just learnt a beautiful little spell that changes any room into a Quidditch pitch for an hour."

"And that's where you come in." Fred and George were both looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Why?" Ginny asked, genuinely confused, "you've got it all worked out."

"Mum," George said, with the air of someone being condemned to death, "she wants no noise or mess in the house.  And we need you to ask her for us."

"Why me?" Ginny asked, remembering Mrs Weasley's lectures she had handed out in the holidays.  She had been affected greatly by the death of Sirius (mainly because they had disagreed more than once), and had taken it upon herself to make sure his house was treated with the utmost respect at all times.  That meant no running in the corridors, lots of cleaning, and no noise.  Even the painting of old Mrs Black had to be treated with respect.  Ginny didn't see how turning a room into a Quidditch pitch complied with _any _of these rules.

"Because you're the baby," Fred answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Ginny scowled at him, "you can get away with anything, especially when it's for Harry."

"Yeh, Mum loves him more than us! Go on, Ginny."

Rolling her eyes once more, but realising that it was worthwhile trying if it meant there was a small chance it might cheer Harry up, agreed.  Getting up, she proceeded in the direction of Mrs Weasley.  Fred and George remained behind, sharing the Extendable Ear eagerly.  Exactly ten minutes later, they let out a whoop of happiness and raised their hands in celebration of Ginny's success.

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Harry arrived early the next morning by Portkey, escorted by a guard of Lupin, Tonks and Moody. The death of Sirius had affected Lupin greatly, and the already high amount of grey in his hair had doubled, and he had the air of one old before his time.  Even Tonks was less bouncy than usual.  Harry himself looked more detached than anything, it looked as though he was looking around at his surroundings, but not taking anything in.  His face was held rigidly in the same expression, and the overall expression was that he was numb.  When he smiled in greeting, it didn't quite reach his eyes, which were glassed over.

"Harry!"  Hermione had bounded down the stairs at the noise, and immediately tackled Harry into a hug. "How are you?"

Harry, who had stiffened at the hug, drew back and nodded at her reassuringly. 

"I'm fine." he replied, but his voice sounded hollow and no one in the room was convinced.

Ron the clapped Harry on the back in welcome, and Mrs Weasley crushed him in another motherly hug.  Ginny grinned at him.  Harry smiled back, but once again, it didn't quite reach his eyes.  

Throughout the day, Harry remained quiet and withdrawn, as if he felt nothing.  Ginny, who remembered his anger of the summer before, found herself wishing that he would explode again, because at least then that would show _emotion_, would show that he felt something.  All Harry did was move around politely, looking at them with hollow eyes and only speaking when he was spoken to.   By the end of the day, Ginny had an urge to shake him hard, or slap him around the face, anything to get a reaction.  At the sight of Kreacher (who was now bound to serve Harry, as Sirius' godson he had inherited everything), Harry stiffened but continued in the same polite, detached manner.

At only nine o'clock, Harry put down his dinner things and announced that he was very tired, so would be going to bed.  Without waiting for a reply (Hermione looked like she was going to open her mouth in protest, but was silenced by a glare from Ron), he got up and left the room.  Hermione and Ron exchanged a worried look, and an awkward silence filled the room.

"Poor boy," Mrs Weasley said at last, levitating Harry's dishes into the kitchen with a flick of her wand, "I don't want any of you boys pestering him."

Everyone nodded; even Fred and George looked subdued.

Much later, Ginny finished a game of chess with Ron (not surprisingly, Ron won), and made her own way up the stairs to the bed.  As she passed Harry and Ron's room, she saw that the door had been left half open by Harry.  Looking inside, she saw that Harry was laying fully clothed on his back on the camp bed, staring at the ceiling.

He didn't even see her.

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A/N:  That's the first chapter done!  Yes, this will be an eventual H/G fic, but I think that Harry's much too down at the moment to have a romance with anyone.  Besides, I don't think he's good enough friends with Ginny yet.  Be patient, and it will come!  This will probably be a fairly long fic, but I'll try to update it regularily.

Reviews/opinions/questions are welcomed.


	2. Sirius

A/N:  First of all, sorry about the delay in posting this.  I've had it typed out for quite a while, but my computer got the "blaster worm" virus so I haven't been able to use the internet for ages.  This chapter has a Harry POV.  I want to keep this fic quite light-hearted, so I've stopped myself from going into great depths concerning his feelings about Sirius' death, this will be one of the only chapters to deal with it, so that's the reason in case anyone starts to wonder.  As always, reviews are welcomed.  And, as far as I'm aware, I haven't changed into JK overnight.  Wouldn't mind if I had though….

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**Chapter Two: Sirius**

A week had passed since Harry's return to Grimmauld Place, and he was still finding being in his godfather's old home difficult.  He suspected that the others knew this (the way they skirted around the subject and threw anxious looks at him confirmed this hunch), but was grateful that it had not been directly mentioned.  A few times, Hermione had looked as though she wanted to ask Harry how he was coping, but she had just managed to restrain herself.  For this, Harry was grateful.  His feelings about Sirius' death were a muddle even to him, and there was no way he was ready or able to describe them.  Most of the time, he felt a dull sort of ache, but there were times when the fact that Sirius was dead seemed to wash straight over him, shaking him to the very core.  At times like this, he felt overwhelmingly lethargic, and took to spending hours lying on his bed in Ron's room, staring into space.  It was an effort to get out of bed in the mornings.

On the morning that signalled a week since his arrival, Harry went down to breakfast to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny already there.  Ron and Hermione were tucking into loaded plates of bacon sandwiches with egg, and Ginny was removing a letter from an owl that Harry didn't recognise.

Helping himself to a sandwich, Harry took a seat next to Ron, across from Hermione and Ginny.

"Who's the owl from, Ginny?" Ron asked thickly, his mouth full of bacon.

Ginny shot him a disgusted look, but replied all the same.

"Luna," she said absently, quickly scanning the parchment, "two sentences asking how I am, and the rest asking for information about you."

"About me?" Ron's eyebrows shot up into his hairline in bewilderment, and Ginny suppressed a giggle. "Why would she send _you _an owl asking about _me?"_

"Isn't it obvious?" Ginny asked, with the air of one talking to a small child, "she fancies you."

Ron opened his mouth as if to talk, and then closed it again.  He stared at Ginny for a while as if she was mentally unhinged, and shook his head in confusion.  Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught Hermione scowl and poke her egg harder than was strictly necessary.  He caught Ginny's eye and they both grinned and quickly looked away to avoid laughing.  A comfortable silence fell over the group as they ate.  Eventually, it was Hermione who was the first to speak.

"Harry," she said hesitantly, "I found some old things belonging to Sirius yesterday when I was cleaning the house, and I thought you might like to have a look at them."

Harry felt a wave of pain wash through his stomach doubled with a bubble of anger towards Hermione for bringing the subject up when he was starting to feel happier again.  He struggled to suppress both, and answered evenly.

"That's okay," Harry tried to keep his voice from shaking, "just put them somewhere."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, watching him closely, and taking a deep breath, "It's just that you have to deal with it sooner or later, you know.  Not talking about it will only make it worse in the long run."

Ron shot Hermione a quick warning glance, but Harry didn't trust himself to speak.  Taking his silence as an encouragement, Hermione opened her mouth to plough straight on.  It seemed as though she had been wanting to say this all summer.

"We know that you're upset about Sirius, Harry," she faltered slightly at the look on Harry's face, "and we are too, but you can't keep locking yourself away all summer.  It's not _healthy_ to keep everything inside, and besides Harry, Sirius would have wanted for you to carry on with your life as best as possible.  He wouldn't have wanted you to just lock yourself up in your room -"

The bubble of anger, which initially had been quite small, had swelled up inside Harry's gut and was threatening to burst out of him.  

"How do you know what Sirius would have wanted?" He cut in, each word emphasising anger.  "He was _my _godfather, and thanks to me, he's not exactly around for us to ask anymore."

A small part of Harry's brain registered that it was a bit unfair of him to assume that he was the only one suffering, but this rational part had been taken over by the much larger, fuming part that hearing Sirius' name had set off.  He glared at Hermione, challenging her to say one more word about it.  She visibly paled, but seemed determined to say her piece.

"Harry, I know that he wouldn't have wanted you to waste –"

"That's enough, Hermione." Ron interrupted suddenly, looking at the expression on Harry's face worriedly.  

Hermione nervously withdrew her eyes from Harry's glare, and turned to face Ron.  It seemed as though they were having a silent battle of wills.  Hermione was the first to look away, and returned to poking the egg on her plate furiously.  Ron sent Harry a silent look of apology, but Harry refused to meet his eye, he was concentrating on trying to stop his hands from shaking as he too picked back up his discarded cutlery.  The bubble of rage continued to swell inside of him menacingly, causing him to knock over his glass of pumpkin juice.

Hermione looked up at him, but remained silent.  Ron and Ginny acted like they didn't notice.

Another silence fell over them, but this time it was more uneasy, and was only broken by Ginny asking if anyone had anything they wanted her to add in her reply to Luna.  Hermione was the first to finish, and without a word set her dirty dishes in the sink and proceeded upstairs.  Ron followed suit five minutes later leaving behind only Harry, who was still gripping his fork in anger, and Ginny, who was composing her reply to Luna at the table.

After a few minutes, Harry became aware that Ginny had set down her quill and was looking at him thoughtfully.  When he turned to meet her gaze, she didn't look away, but continued to regard him with big brown eyes.

"Harry," she said at last, "do you blame me for Hermione getting petrified in my first year?"

Taken aback by the change in subject, Harry said the first thing that came into his mind.

"No," he replied in a voice that was more like his own, "it was Voldemort's fault."

Ginny stood up and took her own plate to the sink.  

"Well, it wasn't your fault about Sirius then," she said matter-of-factly, now scribbling her name at the bottom of the parchment, "and you really should stop blaming yourself."

Harry stared at her for a moment, as the meaning of her words began to sink in, and was just about to open his mouth to speak when he noticed that Ginny was standing by the doorframe and about to speak.

"I was just going to play some Quidditch," she said cheerfully, "to make sure that I get Chaser next year.  Fred and George know this spell to make an indoor Quidditch pitch and they're not going to the shop this morning.  Do you feel like playing?"

Harry grinned at her with what he realised was his first genuine smile of the summer.

"Okay."

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A/N:  I love Hermione, I really do, but she never seems to understand that Harry doesn't like to talk about things that are bothering him.  He's too much of a brooder.  Special thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, and made me want to write this one.  **Liebling****: **First of all, thanks for being my first reviewer! Second of all, thanks for being so nice in the review! **Lourdes****: **I agree, I think H/G is what JK is planning, and hopefully that would include the final battle.  I don't think Ginny is the kind of girl that would just sit on the sidelines! **Lydia****: **Thanks! **Met19: **Thanks, hopefully you'll like this chapter too! **Lady A: **I'm glad I caught your attention, but sorry for the delay in updating…it wasn't my fault, the "blaster worm" got me!! **Psycho Queen: **H/G and R/Hr for life!! I definitely agree with that! **Gapman****: **Here's the next chapter, hope you like it.  **Amanda: **From now on, I should be able to update regularily. Later gator.  **Star*: **Thanks for the suggestion, I like it when people do that in reviews.  I was thinking of it anyone, but your review persuaded me to do this chapter with Harry's POV. What do you think of it?  I deleted "I Wish" because the whole premise didn't seem to fit in with Ginny's character in OOTP, and mainly because I run out of ideas for it (but don't tell anyone that!) Hope to hear from you soon!


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